Reinforced pile and method of making the same



Feb. 6, 1940. T-. H. HANSEN 2,189,028

REINFORCED PILE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Nov. 3, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l t i afg, f/j j I Maa ATTORNEY.

Feb. 6, 1940. T. H. HANSEN REINFORCED PILE AND` METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Nov. '5, 19:58

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ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 6, 1940 UNITED STATES REINFORCED PILE AND METHOD F `MAKING' THE SAME Thorwald Hansen, Brighton, Trinidad, British West Indies Application November s, 193s, serial No.l 238,523

12 Claims.

The present invention is directed to the reinforcement of telegraph and telephone poles, railroad trestles, piles in pier construction, and the like. More particularly, the invention is directed to the treatment of such piles and the like already in place and embodied in structures or is adaptable to a plant for the pre-treatment thereof before being placed in structures.

Asis well known, piles in various structures are subject to deterioration and erosion. In order to delay such destruction, it has been customary to impregnate the piles With liquid preservatives, but the use thereof merely .delayed the deterioration. It was customary to replace eroded piles in a structure such as a pier by removing those in bad condition and replacing the same. This necessitated frequent replacements of a portion of the piles with the result that at each repair, the pier or the like was tied up.

In thenal analysis, in many cases piles had to be replaced every six or seven years and methods were proposed to increase the life thereof. For example, there was a proposal to reinforce eroded piles by attaching at the eroded portion logs or similar members which were bolted together and weresecured by spikes or otherwise to the piles. Ihis wasan expensive method and the effectiveness was only moderate. It was difficult to apply to piles in a pier for the reason that it was necessary to lwork under water.

It has also been proposed to strengthen eroded piles by enclosing the eroded portion by a jacket of concrete or the like. In such case, it was necessary to build a form around the pile and 35` make that form water-tight. Thereafter, the water was pumped out from the inside of the `form and concrete was poured in place. This was effective, but for most purposes the cost was much too high to be economical. It has also been attempted to form a concrete jacket around piles Without the Apumping out of the water by merely placing the form around the pile and pouring the concrete into the water. This was not at all successfuLsince salt Water has`a deteriorating influence on thevconcrete and the pouring of the concrete into the water caused a separation of the concrete into heavier and lighter strata, thus destroying the strength thereof. y

It has also been proposed to encase piles with a concrete jacket at the Y'time they are being driven into place@ This method contemplated the placing of a form about a portion of a pile, pouring the concrete into the form, and kthen by means of a pile driver, driving the same into its final position while the concrete was still plastic. This had numerous disadvantages, inr that one could not determine in advance the depth to which the pilevwould be driven and' y therefore the jacket was very likely to be in the j wrong place. Special concrete castings were nec- 5 essary in order to sealthe bottom of the form into which the concrete was cast, necessitating a considerable amount of labor for fastening said castings into place. This method could not be used on piles after they are placed in a structure and this process also tied up the structure so that during repairs it could not be usedy The present invention is intended to eliminate the difculties and disadvantages of prior structures and to provide a reinforcement for piles and 15 the like and a method whereby the same may be produced which is simple, inexpensive, does not require skilled labor, does not require under Water work, which does not require special forms or molds, and which can be accomplished with standard materials and without special equipment.

In practicing my invention, I provide a form into which theconcrete is tobe poured, said forni being of ordinary `sheet metal, bent to the` proper 25 shape, and the edges thereof bolted together'to complete the form. It is sunk to the proper depth and care need not be taken to make the same Water-tight. Bysuitable means, sufficient `,fresh Wateris caused to flow into the bottom of vthe form,rthus displacing `the salt water normally present around piers. Then a slurry of cementand water, as thick as can be conveniently poured, is run into the bottom of the form for a rsuitable depth, usually from one to three feet, displacing the fresh water upwardly and out of the top of the form.l Thereafter, concrete is poured into thebottom of the form, displacing the slurry of cement and water upwardly. -The concrete is poured into the form until all'cf the slurry has overflowed out of the top thereof By this method there has been eliminated every possibility of the mixing lof salt water with the concrete and at the same time, has eliminated the necessity` of making special forms which are 40 water-tight, and has also, of course, .eliminated the'necessity of pumping water from the inside of the form. For various jobs where the lengthv of the pile to be protected varies, the same forms may be used since they are made of standard 50 sizevsheet metal welded together in a suitable number of lengths for the specific purpose.' The same molds may be used for practically all jobs and no under water work is necessary.

By reason of the use of a cement slurry prior to the introduction of concrete, several very important advantages are obtained. The slurry lines the interior of the form and also coats the surface of the pile. After the concrete is poured, these coatings remain in place and become integral with the concrete. The outside iilrn of cement forms a case around the concrete which is very hard and dense and offers high resistance 'to mechanical erosion. The inner film of cement adheres very strongly to the wood as Well as to the'concrete and makes a union which is so tight that the concrete cannot be removed without tearing away the wood with it. v f

As a further advantage of the use of this method, tamping or otherwise vibrating the plastic concrete is unnecessary, as the cement 'completely illls the interstices of the concrete and assures a dense and hard product.

In the accompanying drawings, constituting a part hereof, and in which like reference `characters indicate like parts,

Fig. i -is -a side elevational view of a pilein place, showing an eroded portion;

. Fig. 2 is a View similar to Fig. l, showing reinorcements in place thereon as one of the first steps in the operation;

Fig. 3 is a view showing the next step of the operation;

Fig. 4 is a similar View showing the concrete jacket in place;

Fig. 5 is a side elevational View, diagrammatic in character, showing the rst step of the present process;

Figs. 6 and '7 show successively two additional steps of the operation; and

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 8 8 of Fig. 7.

As shown in Fig. l, various marine borers such as toredo, limnoria, martesia andA others, attack the pile l, -forming an eroded portion 2 with`the various marine borers traveling upwardly and downwardly. Erosion takes place not only' at or above the low water-line 3, but may continue up to and above the high water-mark d and may go down to the mud-line 5, or even some-what lower. In all cases, it has been found that when protection is given froma point somewhat above the high water-line 4 to a point somewhat below the mud-line. 5, complete elimination of the effect nf borers is obtained. v

As a firstV step in the operation, there are provided reinforcing staples 6 of any suitable character, often being rectangular inrcross-section and of adequate size, having the ends l thereof inturned at right angles and ,sharpened to a point to 'form spikes. As shown in Fig'. 2, the staples are driven in until they are vilush with the outer periphery ofthe piles and atV different levels, so that the spikes 'l do not form a ring in a single plane. i There is usually also provided a 'reinforcing mesh 8, surrounding the pile at the proper level and over the desired portion to be jacketed. The concrete 9 extends over the entire area covered by the wire mesh or the like 8, and usually a short distance above and below the same.

In Yoperating the process 'special reference is had to Figs. 5,. 6 and?, showing the various stages of the operation of the process. The pile I is first prepared by scraping off the barnacles and other marine growth, and a form i0 placed around the same. The form consists of a seriesof pieces of sheet metal, usually`steel, welded together end to end to give the y.desired length. Alongfthe free edges 'thereof are' provided angular members Il which are welded to the edges, as shown at I2. The outer sides of members Il are Aprovided with cooperating flanges !3 having openings for the reception of bolts I4 to holdthe same together. The form` is placed in position around the pile, the bolts lll are secured in place and by means of a jet, the silt at the mud-line around the pile is washed away for a depth of about one Afoot and the form is lowered into this depression and centered in place. The bottom lmay be sealedup in va very simple manner if it is found there is somevleakage by the piling of silt around the bottom thereof. l

A pipe i5 having a funnel I6 secured to the upper end is lowered into the form' so that'the bottom opening ll of pipe l5 is practically at the bottom of said form. The pipe l5 operates in theside chamber formed by angular members Il.` v

Everything now being in place, the operation is started by pouring fresh water into the funnel l5, displacing salt water upwardly and out vover the top edge of the-form. As soon as this is completed, a slurry vI8 of cement and water is introduced into the funnel Iii, such slurry being usually of about equal parts of water and cement. A depth of l to 2 or 3 feet of slurry is obtained in the bottom of the form. Thereafter, as shown in Fig. 6, a suitable concrete mixture lil in plastic state is introduced into' the pipe l5, emerg` ing from the bottom l?! thereof and displacing" the slurry I3 upwardly toward the top of thek form. The .pouring in of concrete is continued` until, as shown in Fig, all of the slurry hasbeen f displaced and 'the entire form is filled with con-'- crete. The pipe l5 'is then removed and the conf crete allowed to set, after which the forms are in it is intended to inclu-de the compositions commonly so-called, in which thereuis cement and the usual iillers, such .as sand, gravel, crushed rock, andthe like. ,y v Y Itis, of course, understood that reinforcements removed. By the term fconcrete as 4used heresuch as shown in Figs. 2 and .3 may be, and.` f

usually are, included in the nal jacket. In such case, the wire mesh 8 may be centered in any known manner as by welding inwardlydirected metal pieces to properly center the mesh, 'orby introducing next to the pile a number of pipes of the correct diameter 'toact asa guide. and

the mesh 'is then rolled around the pipes. After the mesh has been wired in place, the pipes may be removed. v

The present methcdmay be used for the ren pair of piers and other 'marine structures with'- out tying up vthe structure during the repair` pee riod. Furthermore, it is adapted to repair piles which are so far gone as to require replacement and the cost of such repair need not exceed one` forth a single embodiment thereof and outlining A the use thereof in the repair of piers` and similar f' structures, the invention is adapted for many other uses. For-example, it may be applied in the repair of railroad trestles, telegraph and telephone poles and various otherv structures.

vThe I principles of my method are applicable to situations vsuch as the building of piers or foundal tions in water or in situations where water is encountered. Inmany cases, the-present method avoids the necessity of buildingexpensive cofer-' v confined' to the repair of piles or the like.'

Numerous variations in the details of procedure may, of course be made within lthe principles of the present invention. Different types of reinforcing may be used or reinforcements may in certain cases be entirely dispensed with. The forms used in my method may be ofdifferent types, -although those described above are deemed to be simple and effective. providedwith a coating ofv oil or the like on the interior surface thereof in order to avoid'sticking of the cement to the surface, and 'also to render it easy'to remove the forms. The slurry I8 has been described above as being merely'a mixtureof water 'and cement. However, other ingredients may be added thereto, as for instance,

small amounts of sand, gravel or the like may be added, which will not interfere with the intended operation of the slurry, the purpose being to have the relatively heavy cement slurry settle vto the bottom, which results in excellent concrete yfrom the bottom upward. Furthermore, other substances than cement may be used in order to give the same eiect as described herein, it being` desirable to use a material which will penetrate vand .adhere to the fibers of the wood. The thicky ness of the concrete jacket may varyy but, for the sakeof economy, I .usually provide a thickness of 2 or less, the side chamber for the introduction of the concrete rendering this possible and also a longitudinal, integral, concrete reinforcing rib 20 along the side of the jacket.

- except by the rcharacter These and other changes in the details of operation may be made within the spirit of my invention, the-scope of which is not to be limited of the claims `appended hereto.. v

What I claim is:

1. A method of casting Vconcrete which comprises providing a form, pouring a cement slurry f in the bottom of the space enclosed by said form,

yintroducing plastic yconcrete beneath the surface upwardly, said slurry lfloating Aon the surface of said concrete. l

3. A method of casting concrete' which comprises providing a form, positioning said form in a salt Water-containing' area, introducing fresh water into said form to displace salt water, pouring a cement slurry in the bottom of the space enclosed by said form, introducing 'plastic concrete beneath the surface of said slurry and displacing .the same upwardly, said slurry floating on the surface of said concrete.

The formsv may be 4. A method of strengthening eroded wooden piles which comprises providing a form for concrete, surrounding the pile with the same over the area to be strengthened, pouring a cement slurry into the bottom of the same, and introducing plastic cement beneath the surface of said slurry.

5. A method of strengthening eroded wooden piles located in salt Water which comprises providing alform for concrete, surrounding the pile with the same over the area to be strengthened,

`introducing fresh Water into said form to displace -salt water, pouring a cement slurry into the bottom of the same, and introducing plastic cement beneath the surface of said slurry.

6. A method of strengthening eroded wooden piles which comprises providing a form for concrete, surrounding thev pile with the same over the area to be strengthened, pouring a cement slurry into the bottom of the same, and introducing plastic vcement beneath the surface of saidr slurry along a side of said form.

7. An article 4comprising a wooden pile eroded over a portion of its length, a thin jacket lof concrete containing cement and filler surrounding and lling said eroded portion, a longitudinal rib of concrete integral with said jacket, and metal reinforcements in said concrete.

8. An article comprising a wooden pile eroded over a portion of its length, a thin jacket ofconcrete containing cement and filler surrounding and filling said eroded portion, and metal staples i ed portion, the ends thereof being provided with inturned spikes anchored in said pile and embedded in said jacket.

y10. An article comprising a lwooden pile eroded overv a-portion of its length, a thin jacket of concrete containing cement and ller surrounding and filling said eroded portion, and metal staples bridgingl the eroded portion and anchored in said pile at both ends of said staples and ernbedded in said jacket, and annular metal mesh surrounding said pile and also embedded in said jacket.

11. An article comprising a wooden pile eroded over va portion of its length, a thin jacket yof concretel containing cement and filler surrounding and filling said eroded portion, metal reinforce- 7 ments in said concrete, and a case of pure cement pure cement only on the outside of said concrete.

l THORWALDl-I. HANSEN. y

n having a longitudinal member bridging the erod- 

